A HAPPY ISLAND OF TO-DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1957, 23 May 1889, Page 32

A HAPPY ISLAND OF TO-DAY.

There is a nation in existence that , has preserved its identity for more than; a thousand years, whose leading families claim an ancestry so remote that it is almost mythological, and whose 90,000 people live under but 43 articles that form their whole jurisprudence. Its history records but two thieves; .crime is almost unknown, and armies and .policemen are never seen. Seven out of 10 of the educated class speak, read, and write the Latin language fluently, and a greater portion the English language. These people claim to be the freest on earth, in doing just as they please, providing they interfere with no one else. They never lock their doors, have no hotels and provide ample hospitality for all visitors in their homes. They glory in the possession of the purest, bravest blood in their, veins that flows among mankind to-day; and claim the richest traditions of modern nations. They live where there are 41 days in the year of total darkness, and a like number of perpetual sunlight. That nation is on this earth, too, and inhabits the island of .Iceland. A popular ignorance of this country pre- ! vails, owing, probably, largely to the misleading name of Iceland. The island, of about 42,000 square miles, is green and fertile in the southern portion from May until October,, when deer and sheep graze at large. In winter, however, the snow is abundant. A line' of steamers sail from Copenhagen fortnightly. The country is, under the protection of Denmark, but there, the connection ends. There are nine provinces, each of which, elects 12 of the oldest and wisest of its men to perform duties somewhat' analogous to, the State Legislature in j America. There is also a national gathering similar to.the House of Representatives,- and a body like the Senate,, which meets once a year. But there is little governing and no law-making to do., Bach man governs himself upon the broadest principles of personal liberty in everything. The Icelanders are descended from the old Norse Vikings, the free-born families tracing their lineage to Harold and his men, who, their rich Norse mythology says, landed in 613. The land is "owned by a few, and those who work the 1 estates are serfs, who pay rental. Travelling is by pony, or deer, and in the mountains of Northern Iceland man's foot has never trodden. The Icelandic pony will ,take its rider as far as it is safe to go. Ihe city of Redjavik has about 13,000 people, the greatei portion of the people living upon the estates. There is splendid hunting and fishing, the wild game being nearly all white. Polar bears that come down with the icebergs furnish popular hunting. ' Trade disputes are settled by arbitration, and the decision must be accepted by all concerned. Public disgrace attaches ■to any slight misdeed, and no one can live . there and undergo the, consequent mortification. Besides agrioulture, which produces barley, rye, and vegetables, the great indnstry is sheep raising. The exports are largely eiderdown, picked from wild birds, lava from the volcano Mount Hecla, which is pumicestone, and sulphur, which is found in similar and such varied states as salt. "The Icelander," says a recent traveller, "is very proud of his pure and courageous Norman blood. You know that the French, English, and German aristocracy, if possible, will claim even a trace of , Norman blood, but here is a people , who have nothing else.. .« I never heard of but two cases of thieving. „ Qne was an Icelander who -had broken hjs arm, an 4 whose* family in the - winter were suffering for food. He stole several

sheep, and was .finally, detected 9gTinuj# once put under medical pare, f 6* his , injury ' provisions werefunjishe.dfor his family^^ in time he was jfiven work. That was his punishment. , .The other pase p was a, German who stole 17 sheepl, He.was incomfortabla circumstances, and tHe tJb'eft.wasjtnalicioas, His punishment was to sell all his property restore the value of his thefts, and leave thj country, or be executed. . He left at once."